Acetylene-gas lighter.



H. VAN HOEVENBERG.

- AGETYLENE GAS LIGHTER. APPLICATION IILBD MAB.. 22, 1910.

1 ,008,28'7. Patented'Nov. 7, 1911.

ATTORNEYS HENRY VAN HOEVENBERG, OF LAKE PLACID CLUB, NEW YORK.

ACETYLENE-GAS LIGHTER.

Lenses?.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. *7, 1911.,

Application filed March 22, 1910. Serial No. 550,849.

'lo all whom 'it may concer/rt:

Be it known that I, HENRY VAN HoEvnN- BERG, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Lake Placid Club, in the county of Essex andState of New York, have invented a new and Improved Acetylene-GrasLighter, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to gas lighters, my more particular purpose beingto provide a gas lighter suitable for use in connection with acetylenegas and possessing certain advantages of construction and operation, ashereinafter described.

My invention comprehends an electricallyoperated gas lighter having twomovable contact arms and mechanism connected with said arms foractuating-the same, the parts being so arranged that the contact armsare brought into engagement with each other, a current is completedthrough them, and t-he arms are next separated in or near the path ofthe flame and are nally brought back to their respective normalpositions, the arms in being thus broughtback into normal position,making an idle contact, but without closing the electric circuit.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate.corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is an elevation showing a gas burner equipped with my improvedigniter mechanism, the parts being' in normal position and the burnerbeing idle; Fig. 2 is a perspective showing the position of the partsimmediately after the gas is turned on and the spark is struck; Fig. 3is an elevation, showing the appearance of the parts when the lever armis being raised a little incidental to its restoration to normalposition; Fig. et is an elevation showing the relative positions ofvarious parts; Fig. 5 is a detail showing in section the valve forhandling the gas and a limiting stop for said valve.

It may be stated at the start that great diiculty is usually experiencedin efforts to light acetylene gas by aid of a spark. One reason for thisis that in lighters as ordinarily constructed and operated, the electriccurrent (or static discharge made by aid of inductive action from suchcurrent) is not generally employed to the best advantage. I thereforeseek to make the spark as strong as possible. I do this by avoidingwaste of the current except at the precise instant when the spark is tobe made. I then cause the current to be quickly completed and as quicklybroken, carefully avoiding any necessity for accidentally completing thecircuit a second time, as the contact members, after making the spark,arel brought back to normal position.

At 6 is a gas pillar and mounted upon the latter is a burner tip 7provided with flame openings 8 and air holes 9. The pillar 6 is mountedupon a valve casing 10 containing a valve plug 11 which is provided witha tangential slot 12, and fitting into this slot is a limiting screw 13.By adjusting this screw the rotary play of the valve plug may beadjusted within proper limits at will. The plug 11 is provided with ahead 14C and extending from the latter is an arm 14a from which hangs ahandle 14b whereby the plug may be turned. Connected rigidly with thehead 14 and extending upwardly therefrom is an arm lprovided with acontact portion 16, this contact portion being kept bright by rubbingagainst its mate, thus avoiding the necessity for using platinum.

Mounted Aupon the valve casing 10 is a plate 17 of insulating material.A plate 18 of metal is mounted upon the plate 17 of insulating materialby aid of a pivot 19. The upper end of the plate 18 carries a bearingsleeve 20, and extending into this bearing sleeve and projectingupwardly from the same is an arm 21 provided with a contact portion 22,this-arm, including the contact portion, being so constructed andarranged, like the arm 15 and its contact portion 16, as' to be keptbright by rubbing; the necessity for platinum thus being avoided. Twolugs 23, 25, separated by a gap 24:, are mounted upon the lower portionof the plate 18, the arm 15 extending upwardly, through the gap, betweenthe lugs.

Mounted upon the back of the plate 17 of insulating material is ametallic plate 26, and pivotally mounted upon the latter is a rockingmember 27 provided with a metallic arm 28 and with. an arm 29.0finsulating material separated slightly from the member 28 of metal. Thearm 21 extends loosely between the metallic arm 28 and the arm 29 ofinsulating material, so as to allow for a little lost motion when thearm 21 is rocked. The rocking member 27 is actuated entirely bymovements of the arm 21. The

plate 2G is provided with a binding post 29a and connected with thelatter is an insulated wire 30, this insulated wire being connected witha. battery and in electrical communication with a spark coil formomentarily intensifying a current or electric discharge through thewire. The valve casing is mounted upon a metallic gas fixture 31 whichis grounded and in communication with the battery and spark coil whichare also grounded in the usual manner.

The operation of my device is as follows: I will suppose that themovable parts are in their respective normal positions, as indicated inFig. 1. The rotary valve now occupies one of its extreme positions, towit, the one which it assumes when it is turned to its limit in acontraclockwise direction. Such being the case, the gas is cut oil' andthe metallic arm 21 is in its uppermost position and engages the arm 29of insulating material. There is now no connection between the metallicarms 21 and 28. Neither is there any connection between the metallicarms 15 and 22. The operator now grasps the handle 14C" and pulls itdownward. Then the arm 14a moves from its position indicated by fulllines in Fig. 1 to its position indicated by dotted lines in saidfigure, the metallic arm 15 moves also into its position indicated bydotted lines in said figure. Upon reaching this position t-he arm 15begins to press against the lug 28 and in doing this causes the plate 18to turn slightly upon its pivot 19. This movement of the plate 18 causesthe contact arm 21 tc move angularly downward to the left upon the pivot19 as a center, and consequently to engage the contact arm 28. Thile thecontact arms 27 and 28 are now in direct engagement, no current isflo-wing, because there is as yet no contact between the contact arms 15and 21. The downward movement of the handle 141, however, soon carriesthe contact arm 15 far enough to bring t-he contact portion 16 of thisarm into engagement with the contact portion 22 of the contact arm 21.This completes the follow-- ing circuit: ground, battery and spark coilnot shown), wire 30, binding post 29, plate '26, rocking member 27,contact arm 28, contact arm 21 including contact portion 22, contactportion 16, contact arm 15, to valve casing 10 and metallic gas fixture81, thence back to ground. As the movement of the handle 141b iscontinued, the contact arm 15 moves still farther to the right, so thatthe Contact portion 16 is moved abruptly out of engagement with thecontact portion 22. This takes place in the path of the gas, which now,in consequence of the turning of the valve plug, is escaping from theopenings 8. The breaking of the circuit causes a spark to take place,and as this spark is in the path of the escaping gas, the latter islighted. The handle movement being still further continued, the arms 15and 21 are moved completely out of the path of the flame. The apparatusremains in this condition as long as desired, the iiame beingcontinuous. `Then it is desired to extinguish the flow of gas, theoperator pushes the handle 14th upwardly. This causes the plug 11 torotate in al contraclockwise direction, first cutting off the supply ofgas and then causing the plate 18 to swing in a clockwise direction uponits pivot 19.

On order to give the valve a suiiicient turning movement to completelystop t-he flow of gas before the plate 18 begins to turn, the lugs 23,25 are spaced some little distance apart so that there is a lost motionbetween the arm 15 and these lugs. That is to say, the arm 15 turns,upon the axis of the valve plug as a center, for a little distancebefore the arm 15 engages the lug 25. As the hand-controlled movementcontinues, the rocking of the plate 18 lifts the arm 21 out ofengagement with the arm 28, thus precluding the idea of any current nowflowing through any of the contact mechanism. The hand-controlledmovement being still further continued, the contact portion 16 isbrought into engagement with the contact portion 22, but no current nowflows for the reason that there is no electrical communication betweenthe contact arm 21 and the contact arm 28, and the circuit is thereforeopen. The result is that the contact portion 16 merely makes a socalledwiping engagement with the contact port-ion 22, no spark is made, nobattery energy is wasted, and the respective arms 15, 21 are carried onto their normal positions. Vhen the various parts again occupy thepositions indicated in Fig. 1, it will be noted that the contact arm 21is disengaged from the contact arm 28, so that there is no possibilityof any current fiowing until the handle 24 is again depressed to apredetermined distance, so as to affect the position of the plate 18.

As may be seen from the foregoing description, no battery current caniiow when the device is being restored to its normal position, andconsequently no spark can be made at this moment. Moreover( when thecircuit is closed, incidental to the opening of the valve andpreparatory to the lighting of the gas, the duration of the flow isreduced to a minimum, the idea being, not merely to conserve the energyof the battery upon principles of economy, but also to insure that thevoltage and current will be at a maximum during the minute interval oftime that the current is allowed to flow. The quick wiping action of thecontact portion 16 against the contact portion 22 need not be of longerduration than that required to enable the spark coil to build up itsmagnetic field.

Practical trials of the apparatus above described have shown that it iscapable of use for lighting acetylene gas, and that, too, underconditions peculiarly trying.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

l. A device of the character described, combrising a pair of contactmembers adapted to move in opposite directions and also to engage anddisengage each other, mechanism for completing an electric circuitbetween said contact members as the same are moved relatively to eachother in one direction, and means controllable by movements of one ofsaid contact members for maintaining said electric circuit open whensaid members move in the opposite direction relatively to each other.

2. A device of the character described, comprising a member ofinsulating material, a plate pivotally mounted thereupon and adapted torock, a valve, a contact arm connected with said valve and in operativerelation to said plate for the purpose of rocking the same, anothercontact arm connected with said plate, said contact arms being providedrespectively with contact portions for the purpose of facilitating theformation of a spark, a rocking member carrying an arm of conductingmaterial and an arm of insulating material, said rocking member beingdisposed partially Within the path of one of said contact arms, and anelectric circuit connected with the conducting member carried by saidrocking member for the purpose of completing a circuit when said armsare moved relatively to each other in one direction and of preventingthe completion of a circuit when said arms are moved relatively to eachother in the opposite direction.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY VAN HOEVENBERG.

Witnesses:

WALTON HARRISON, Planar D. RoLLHAUs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C3

